Mobile terminal and operating method thereof

Abstract

A mobile terminal is provided. The mobile terminal includes a shot setting part, an image input part, a meta information extractor, and a meta information inserting part. The shot setting part sets shooting conditions and the image input part photographs an image using an optical zoom lens under the set shooting conditions and processes the photographed image. The meta information extractor extracts the shooting conditions set by the shot setting part as meta information and the meta information inserting part inserts the meta information extracted from the meta information extractor into the image processed by the image input part.

1. A mobile terminal comprising:
 a shot setting unit for setting shooting conditions; 
 an image input unit for photographing an image according to the set shooting conditions and processing the photographed image; 
 a user interface for receiving a user input for determining whether to generate meta information associated with the set shooting conditions, 
 wherein the user input is received before the processing of the photographed image in the image input unit; 
 a meta information extractor for extracting the set shooting conditions and generating the meta information associated with the extracted shooting conditions according to the received user input; and 
 a meta information inserting unit for inserting the meta information generated from the meta information extractor into the image processed by the image input unit, according to the received user input, to generate a meta information inserted file, 
 wherein a data block of the meta information has a size less than 4 KB. 
 
     
     
       2. The mobile terminal according to  claim 1 , wherein the meta information inserting unit inserts the meta information generated from the meta information extractor into a JPEG (joint photographic experts group) file. 
     
     
       3. The mobile terminal according to  claim 2 , wherein the meta information inserted into the JPEG file is inserted according to a JFIF (JPEG file interchange format) structure. 
     
     
       4. The mobile terminal according to  claim 2 , wherein the meta information inserting unit inserts the meta information according to formats of an EXIF (exchangeable image format) header and a TIFF (tag image file format) header within a JPEG file header. 
     
     
       5. The mobile terminal according to  claim 1 , wherein the set shooting conditions comprise at least shooting information, image information, file information, or device information. 
     
     
       6. The mobile terminal according to  claim 5 , wherein the shooting information comprises at least device manufacturing company information, device model information, exposure time information, numerical aperture information, ISO setting information, shutter speed information, lens diameter information, flash use information, focal length information, image size information, image resolution information, file generation date information, or file name information. 
     
     
       7. The mobile terminal according to  claim 1 , wherein the meta information extractor extracts shooting conditions embedded in meta information of an input image file. 
     
     
       8. The mobile terminal according to  claim 7 , wherein the input image file is a JPEG file, and the meta information extractor analyzes the JPEG file according to a JFIF structure to extract the shooting conditions. 
     
     
       9. The mobile terminal according to  claim 7 , wherein the meta information extractor analyzes tag data according to formats of an EXIF header and a TIFF header of an input JPEG file to extract shooting conditions. 
     
     
       10. The mobile terminal according to  claim 1 , further comprising an image output unit for displaying the meta information generated from the meta information extractor. 
     
     
       11. The mobile terminal according to  claim 1 , wherein the meta information extractor further provides a user interface to receive the user input to generate the meta information. 
     
     
       12. The mobile terminal according to  claim 1 , wherein the meta information extractor extracts nine variables from the set shooting conditions. 
     
     
       13. The mobile terminal according to  claim 1 , wherein a size of the meta information is less than a size of the image. 
     
     
       14. A method for driving a mobile terminal, the method comprising:
 setting shooting conditions; 
 photographing an image, via an image input unit, according to the set shooting conditions and processing the photographed image; 
 receiving a user input for determining whether to generate meta information associated with the set shooting conditions, wherein the user input is received before the processing of the photographed image in the image input unit; 
 extracting the set shooting conditions and generating the meta information using the extracted shooting conditions according to the received user input, 
 wherein a data block of the generated meta information has a size less than 4 KB; and 
 inserting the generated meta information into the processed photographed image, according to the received user input, to generate a meta information inserted file. 
 
     
     
       15. The method according to  claim 14 , wherein the generated meta information is inserted into a JPEG file. 
     
     
       16. The method according to  claim 15 , wherein the generated meta information inserted into the JPEG file is inserted according to a JFIF (JPEG file interchange format) structure. 
     
     
       17. The method according to  claim 15 , wherein the generated meta information inserted into the JPEG file is inserted according to an EXIF (exchangeable image format) header and a TIFF (tag image file format) header within a JPEG file header. 
     
     
       18. The method according to  claim 14 , wherein the set shooting conditions comprise at least shooting information, image information, file information, or device information. 
     
     
       19. The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the shooting information comprises at least device manufacturing company information, device model information, exposure time information, numerical aperture information, ISO setting information, shutter speed information, lens diameter information, flash use information, focal length information, image size information, image resolution information, file generation date information, or file name information. 
     
     
       20. The method according to  claim 14 , further comprising: extracting shooting conditions embedded in meta information of an input image file. 
     
     
       21. The method according to  claim 20 , wherein the input image file is a JPEG file, and the extracting of the shooting conditions embedded in the meta information comprises analyzing the JPEG file according to a JFIF structure to extract the shooting conditions. 
     
     
       22. The method according to  claim 20 , wherein the input image file is a JPEG file, and the extracting of the shooting conditions comprises reading a marker code of the JPEG file according to a JFIF structure, recognizing an APP1 block size, and analyzing tag data according to formats of an EXIF header and a TIFF header of the JPEG file. 
     
     
       23. The method according to  claim 14 , further comprising: displaying the generated meta information. 
     
     
       24. The method according to  claim 14 , wherein extracting the shooting conditions extracts nine variables from the set shooting conditions. 
     
     
       25. The mobile terminal according to  claim 14 , wherein a size of the data block of the generated meta information is less than a size of the image.